Draycott Mills Front Range

Draycott Mills Front Range

Cotton and lace factory with attached engine house, now in multiple occupation. Built between 1840 and 1850, with a rear wing dated 1860.

The front range is constructed of red brick with ashlar and blue brick dressings. It features gabled and hipped slate roofs, a plinth, eaves cornice, and coped parapet. The building is 2 storeys and 15 bays, with a projecting centre of 3 bays. The centre section has angle pilasters and a shallow pediment containing a roundel.

Windows throughout are round-headed cast iron casements with glazing bars, set in recessed panels. Ground floor windows have rubbed brick heads, whilst those above have ashlar heads with a linked lintel band. The principal elevation features a moulded round arched doorcase in painted ashlar, with panelled double doors and traceried cast iron fanlight. Above the door is a wrought iron bracket lamp. On either side of the centre are 6 windows on each floor, with an additional ground floor window to the left of centre. An attached plinth formerly supported a railing.

The right return has 2 full height recessed panels with a door to the left. The left return incorporates the engine house and contains 4 windows, with altered openings at ground floor level. The rear elevation has similar fenestration to the front, with a central segmented arched cart opening with rusticated surround. The engine house to the right has a door to the beam floor on the left and a tall blocked opening above a window to the right.

The rear wing, dated 1860 on the rainwater head, is 2 storeys and 4 bays, built in the same style as the front range. Between the front range and rear wing, a through passage features elliptical arched rusticated openings and cast iron guard stones. Beneath the arch are cast iron cross beams framing a hoist trap. On the south side is a 2-storey porch, shouldered on each floor and topped with a stack, containing a segment arched double door below a lunette. The north side has blocked doors and windows in the right bay, and a bearing box which transmitted drive to an adjoining building.

Interior: the front range contains a central row of octagonal cast iron columns at ground floor level, supporting panelled cast iron cross beams carrying a boarded wooden floor. Some columns have been replaced by RSJs. The roof structure is not accessible, but is reported to comprise wrought iron trusses. The rear wing similarly has cast iron columns, cross beams, and floors. The roof structure is concealed, though wooden tie beams with iron tension braces are visible.

This building was probably used for the manufacture of lace from cotton yarn produced on site, and forms the architecturally distinguished facade to an integrated site for the manufacture of cotton yarn and lace.